Golden Eyes and the Sweetest Smile
by Blazing Ace
Summary: KnB futureverse: Kise has been developing feelings for his Senpai over the years… Sadly, he never has the guts to confess and face what he is sure will be rejection. Little does he know that Kasamatsu is crazily in love with him… And now that both of them are well-known celebrities, what does the future hold for these two?


**Warnings: Spoilers from anime and manga. BxB Love.**

**Disclaimer: The 'Kuroko no Basuke' manga and anime series is owned by Tadatoshi Fujimaki and the awesome publishers and producers who made the series possible. **

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_"…What do you mean you won't make it to practice?" asked the Kaijō basketball team captain. The boy had spiky black hair, large, sharp grey eyes and thick eyebrows. He was wearing a very stern expression on his face._

_Kise rolled his eyes and gave the shorter boy standing in front of him a deprecating look. "I don't have time for this. I need to go for my magazine interview. So—"_

_"You…" said Kasamatsu suddenly. Kise looked at him, his brows raised. "I hate brats like you…"_

_Kise smirked. "It doesn't matter whether you like me or not. It all comes down to the fact that no matter what you do, I'll always be better than you… so there's no point."_

_Kasamatsu frowned. "Now you're just insulting the team. Do you know how much effort went into—"_

_"No, I don't." said Kise nonchalantly. "I don't get what's so great about a couple wannabe players trying to—"_

"_I'll tell you what's so great about it." interrupted Kasamatsu, looking majorly pissed off. "Before you even factor in being good or bad, this is Kaijō High School's Basketball Club. It's not because we were born earlier. The second and third years here have been working hard on this team longer than you have. I'm telling you to have respect for that experience. Doesn't matter if you're from the 'Generation of Miracles' or anything else. You're now a freshman at Kaijō. And I'm a senior here, the captain, Yukio Kasamatsu. Got any complaints?"_

_Kise stared. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that in his whole life! Everyone always sucked up to his good looks and skills and charms… so where did this Kasamatsu Yukio suddenly fall out of?_

_"…hey! Blondie, I'm talking to you here!"_

_"Huh?" said Kise dumbly. _Blondie?

_Kasamatsu smacked a hand to his forehead. "I knew something was off about you… You don't care at all do you? Everything that I've said just—"_

_"No!" Kise said, shaking his hand wildly. "No, I got it. I… I didn't think about it that way before! I'm sorry." he said, trying to put up his best kicked-puppy look._

_It seemed to work because Kasamatsu gave him a scrutinizing glare before turning away. "Whatever." he muttered sullenly. "But remember pretty-boy, anything like that ever happens again, I'll kick your ass!"_

_Kise watched Kasamatsu walk back into his classroom as the bell marking the end of recess rang. _

_Was it just him or had the Captain really been shrouded in blight, illuminating light just before the door slammed shut?_

_._

_._

"Senpaaaaaaiiii!"

"Oh Kise, there you are. What took you so long?" asked Kasamatsu, leading against a tree inside the university campus.

"Don't be mad at me Kasamatsu-senpai!" said Kise, practically beaming at him. "The traffic was terrible!"

"I'm sure…"

"No really! By the way, I couldn't call you yesterday, but I was there at the match last night!" Kise put on a moping expression. "But I had to leave early because of my photoshoot, so I didn't get to see the end of the match!"

"It's fine." Kasamatsu said, an understanding expression on his face. "I know how hard it is to arrange and cancel shoots…"

Kise frowned. Come to think of it, Kasamatsu seemed to be a little to understanding on this matter. Kise wanted Kasamatsu to scowl, to scrunch up his brows and get angry at him for being "a jumped-up playboy"… But that had been two years ago, and all Kasamatsu was doing now was repeatedly checking his wristwatch.

"Do you have somewhere to go, senpai?"

Kasamatsu looked up at him. "Yes, actually… I'm waiting for— speaking of waiting, can you tell that Aomine that I really need his enrollment form soon. If he wants to get into that law enforcement course and actually become a police officer, then it's now or never!"

That's right… Aomine was going to study at the same university as Kasamatsu the next year. Since Kasamatsu's course was a five-year long one, it meant that they would be spending at least two years in the same place. Kise however, wanted to enroll into pilot training at a University at Yokohama, he had heard that Midorima was going there as well to pursue a medical career. But that stop his heart from clenching at the fact that he'd be away from Kasamatsu for quite a while.

Kise had realized that he liked (as in _liked_) Kasamatsu undoubtedly in his first year. He became 100% sure when the man had helped him up after Kaijō had lost their match against Tōō Academy. Perhaps he had had these feelings for an even longer time… After all, Kasamatsu had been the first ever person (other than the Generation of Miracles) who hadn't sucked up to him and instead, actually given him quite a few well aimed kicks to rather painful places.

"… admission requirements! Oi, Kise! Are you listening?"

Kise sighed. "Yes, yes. I'll text Aomine-cchi..."

Kise still had no idea how to feel about the development of... a certain form of friendship between Aomine and Kasamatsu. Apparently, Aomine considered him one of the few people still worthy of playing against, and Kasamatsu was never willing to give up a challenge. Their mutual respect for each other had sprouted a rather close camaraderie between them. Aomine kept telling Kise how he couldn't wait to play on the same team as Kasamatsu and his ex-teammate Imayoshi… and Kise couldn't help but feel jealous at that.

"Ah, but don't tell him that I asked for it!" said Kasamatsu, flushing slightly. 'I don't want that brat to think that I'm worring about him or anything… or get the wrong idea."

Kise gave him a strained smile. "Senpai is so cute! Always caring about everyone's well-being!" he said, jumping onto Kasamatsu. _Not just Aomine-cchi's… not exclusively his, of course not…_

"Shut up, Kise!" Kasamatsu frowned as he was glomped by his ex-Kouhai. "Get off me! I'm carrying a musical instrument— hey! You'll break it!"

Kise pouted. "Aww, Senpai! We don't even get to see each other much! So now—"

"… look!"

"Oh my goodness, is that—"

"Yes! Oh, I love you Kise-kun!"

"Kise? Kise Ryōta? I absolutely adore…"

"An autograph, Kise-kun!"

"Kise-kun!"

And just like that, Kise was surrounded by a gaggle to girls, who all wanted a piece of the famous teen-model, Kise Ryōta.

From the corner of his eyes, Kise saw Kasamatsu move away from the growing crowd towards the gate of the university. By the time Kise had satisfied the wishes of all his fans, Kasamatsu was nowhere to be seen.

"I hate it when you come here." said a voice behind Kise.

He turned around to find Reo Mibuchi and Izuki Shun standing behind him. Izuki was grinning at him.

"Izuki here is our resident pretty-boy." said Reo, jerking his head towards the shorter man beside him. "When you come here, he gets shoved to second place."

Izuki nodded to Kise, his black, eagle-like eyes striking. "What're you up to, Kise-kun?"

Kise scratched his head. "I was looking for Kasamatsu-senpai! But he seems to have disappeared."

"Captain?" Reo asked, his mile-long eyelashes fluttering in the wind. "Didn't he just leave with Takao for their practice?"

Kise frowned. "Takao?"

"Yeah." Izuki said. "Takao Kazunari, Midorima's teammate."

"I didn't know that they knew each other well…" said Kise, feeling rather put out.

"They got acquainted from the time they met at the restaurant after Seirin's match against Shūtoku." said Izuki. "Do you remember, Kise-kun? That time when you were sitting with Midorima, Kagami and Kuroko eating okonomiyaki?"

"Yeah…" replied Kise, the memory niggling in his mind. "Sorry, please excuse me!" he said, before rushing off towards somewhere quiet.

Fiddling with his phone, Kise dialed a number and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. _"Hello?"_

"Midorima-cchi?"

_"Kise."_ came the curt greeting.

"Ano… I was wondering, could you tell me where Takao-kun is right now?"

There was a sound of throat clearing on the other end of the line. _"Takao… is hiding something from me." _Midorima said bluntly. _"He keeps leaving the moment practice is over… it's really frustrating, nanodayo."_

"Why Midorima-cchi?" asked Kise, smirking. "Are you irritated because he's not there to pull you in the rickshaw now?"

There was a tsk on the on the phone. _"Kise, if you called just to annoy me…"_

"No, no! Wait!" yelled Kise. "So you have no idea where Takao-kun is? I heard that he's with Kasamatsu-senpai, and that they're practicing something?"

A sigh. _"Beats me."_ said Midorima. _"Besides, it's not like I care. Takao's free to do whatever he wants, nanodayo."_

But that's definitely not what it sounded like to Kise. "Don't worry. I'll text you if I find out, Midorima-cchi."

_"Kise you… just die!"_ came the irked response before Midorima hung up on him.

Kise's lips twitched up slightly, but then tilted back down again as he looked up at the grey skies. They were the same color as Kasamatsu-senpai's eyes.

.

.

Kasamatsu watched with a sad smile as Kise was surrounded by an army of girls… yet again. Not that he was jealous of him or anything. He had always had nervous issues when facing girls. In fact, it could even be said that he was jealous of all those girls draped around Kise...

He had realized around his third year when he had met Kise that he, apparently, has a thing for stupid, blonde brats. But his feelings for Kise were absurd, laughable. The model had girls lining up for him wherever he went, and a girlfriend for each day of the year. Kasamatsu turned away and began walking towards the gates, where people were staring at the stylish racing bike on which a black-haired boy was sitting, looking rather bored.

His silvery blue eyes caught sight of Kasamatsu the moment he exited, and he flicked away the strands of his hair which were falling into his eyes.

"You're late, Kasamatsu-san!" Takao complained as Kasamatsu walked towards his bike. "I got away from practice just to get here on time!"

"It couldn't be helped… Kise's here."

"Ahh…" said Takao, as though he understood something meaningful. "Have you heard? _Basketball Monthly_ put a picture of the two of us as notable Point Guards of the nation. Well, ex-Point Guard for you… now that you're a Small Forward."

Kasamatsu grinned. "That's great! Now people will get to see the two of us together before they see our magazine entries, if we get any."

But Takao was smirking widely. "About that… Koganei-san texted me. We're good to go. Seems that _Zunon Boy_ wants to be the one to capture out debut." he said, flinging his own guitar case over to Kasamatsu, who took his place behind Takao on the bike and sat rather uncomfortably with two electric guitars slung over his back.

"Really?" asked Kasamatsu excitedly. "That's wonderful! Have they given us any dates yet?"

"Yeah." said Takao, glancing in his rearview mirror as he revved the bike into ignition. "It's in half an hour. Hang on tight!"

.

.

Kasamatsu was out of breath when they reached the _Zunon Boy_ magazine Headquarters.

"You crazy jerk! That truck could have crushed us!"

Takao laughed. "Come on, it swerved by! Trust me. For someone who had driven a rickshaw on a highway for over a year, riding a bike is as easy as breathing. Shin-chan practically—"

He cut himself off, suddenly frowning at his own mention of Midorima.

"Takao, is everything alright?" Kasamatsu asked, wondering if the two had fought again.

"No…" Takao sounded frustrated. "It's just really stupid… I mean, Shin-chan already told me that he's into older girls and all that, but I—"

"Takao." muttered Kasamatsu in what he hoped was a comforting voice. He wasn't that good at emotional stuff.

"He's not even going to be here next year!" Takao burst out. "He's going to some med school in Yokohama!" he turned towards Kasamatsu desperately. "It's same for you, right? With Kise? I know it is! He's leaving too I heard… How're you handling it all so nicely?"

Kasamatsu looked away. _It's because I'd never admit to my real emotions…_

Before he could say another word, they reached the room where they were supposed to gather and heard two loud voices breaking the quiet of the hallway.

"…Well _excuse_ me for being better looking than you!"

"Humph! Everyone knows that I'm better, you old man!"

"What did you call me you apologetic mushroom? After this shoot is over, I'll hit you!"

"Sounds like both of them are in their clutch personalities." Takao grinned, pushing open the door. "Yo! What's up Hyūga-san? Sumimasen?"

"Don't call me that, Takao-kun!" yelled Sakurai Ryō, the synthesizer player of their band.

Hyūga looked up at their arrival and twirled his drumsticks skillfully in his fingers and smirked. "Finally made it?"

"I thought that I would die at the break-neck speed he was going." said Kasamatsu, jerking his head at Takao. "I'm actually glad that you two are in your out-of-character mindsets… we'll need you two looking dangerous, not apologetic for the photoshoot."

"Yeah!" Takao chuckled. "Scary is way better than Mr. Arrogant-and-sulky and 'Sumimasen, I'm so sorry for being alive!'"

Hyūga narrowed his eyes. "Shut up, bird-eyes. By the way, our costumes are here, and they turned out nice."

At that moment, the door opened again and Koganei Shinji walked in, accompanied by two female workers.

"Koganei, I owe you a ton." said Kasamatsu, grabbing Koganei's hand and shaking it vigorously the moment he entered the room.

"It's nothing!" said Koganei, who was now a manager at _Zunon Boy_. "You're going to be getting offers from other magazines too and we just wanted to be the first to feature you. Hey, Hyūga-kun! What's up…"

One of the female workers who was carrying their costumes places them on the table in the room. The other woman, who had a kind face and really frizzy hair, pulled out a notepad and faced Kasamatsu with a wide smile. "Perhaps you can tell me what type of make-up you want, so I can relay the information to the make-up artist?"

"Ermm. Well…" Kasamatsu looked at his band mates, who gave him encouraging smiles. Being a basketball captain was very, _very_ different from being the leader of a music band. "We don't want to look to casgual, or too extravagant like other bands… Just something cold and detached, but real and seductive at the same time. To match what our first album is called, _Ivory Seduction_."

"And what about the name of your band?" the woman ploughed on, writing furiously on her notepad. Kasamatsu had a sinking suspicion that whatever she was writing, was not just for the make-up artist.

"We're called _Icy Inferno_." said Kasamatsu, looked back with a smile to where Takao was trying to appease both Sakurai and Hyūga at the same time. "We decided on that contradictory name because we all had our differences when we were younger… Surely you have seen our opposing pages in _Basketball Monthly_! But now that we've matured, we've learned to see what we have in common between us, and we're putting our talents together to do something we all like, and we hope that our audience likes it too."

Takao chose that moment to walk over and place his hand on Kasamatsu's shoulder with a thump. "Which doesn't necessarily mean that we all see eye to eye all the time." he said, mock-growling at Kasamatsu and gesturing vaguely at the quarrelling pair behind them. "But that's what's fun about us!"

By now the woman was staring at them with sparkly eyes, her hands continuing to note as she stared at them. "Well, that was certainly interesting…" she said finally, her voice breathy. "… and you already have one fan right here!"

Koganei smiled like a puppy. "So! You guys can change here and I'll send in the make-up crew… whenever you're ready, the shoot will be taking place in room B204."

.

.

"My underwear is going up my ass." complained Takao, flinching with every step he took.

They were all dressed in similar clothing. A sleeveless, buttonless shirt with transparent, corset-like, crisscrosses cut out on the back… and _really_ tight pants. The clothes all had a smooth texture, but the shades of color were different. Kasamatsu's costume looked as if it were made out of marble, grey and white, with a grey which matched his eyes. Takao's were silver and blue, Hyūga's were jade and forest green and Sakurai's were gold and caramel.

"It's only for a while." Kasamatsu consoled. "Five minutes and it'll all be over."

But it took way longer than five minutes. Every two seconds, someone would call for the cameramen to stop, so that they could fix the blush on Sakurai's face to make his cheeks look more hollow, or to bring out Takao's eyes with a darker shade of eye-shadow, or to add another teardrop or star sticker to the corner of their eyes.

Finally, after more than half an hour, the cameraman in charge told them that their final shot, which would appear on the cover of this month's _Zunon Boy_ issue was going to be taken.

The lights were changed and turned into a frosty blue on one side and fiery orange on the other.

"Of course we're going to edit the back ground and lights, but you know… make it seem more natural, boys!" the man explained.

So they had posed. Kasamatsu and Takao standing while Hyūga and Sakurai sat in front of them. The photographer told them how to jut their hips out at the right angle and how to place their heads in order to look more... well, superior. Kasamatsu placed one arm in a grasp with Sakurai's. His head was tilted towards Takao with a nonchalant expression as Takao smirked, his back to the camera, showing the lace cutouts of his shirt as he turned his head to look over his shoulder, one hand winding around Kasamatsu's neck and the other on his own hip where Hyūga was resting his head with an arrogant expression on his face. Hyūga's legs were slightly entwined with Sakurai's who was gazing at the camera with a very uncharacteristic, fiery look in his face while his free hand fist-bumped Hyūga's.

By the time the clicks and flashes ended, they were all sweating profusely and Takao was chugging down a bottle of pokari.

"Heh! This is hard stuff!" he said, wiping his brow and looking at the makeup which had come off on the back of his hand. "Kasamatsu-san, does Kise have to deal with all this each time he comes for his shoot here?"

Kasamatsu snorted. "You kidding me? He's _Zunon Boy_'s precious face. And anyway… recently, all the shots he's been doing have little, or almost no clothing in them. So I doubt that he feels as hot as us."

"Umm, sumimasen." said Sakurai, now having reverted to his delusional, self-blaming self. "I know that we decided to keep this a secret… but, how are we going to face our friends? They'll obviously see the posters…"

Hyūga grinned. "Never mind friends… Think of all the attention we'll get now! People are going to go crazy over this!"

Kasamatsu deadpanned. "You've already told everyone, haven't you Hyūga-kun?"

Hyūga gave him a weak grin. "Ermm… yes?"

Kasamatsu shook his head with a smile. "Well, I know that my basketball team knows… Kiyoshi's not stupid."

Takao scowled. "I haven't told anyone." he said.

Sakurai shook his head fervently. "Oh, me neither!"

Kasamatsu rubbed the back of his neck. "That Aomine knows too."

"What?!" yelped Sakurai. "Sumimasen, but how?"

Kasamatsu felt his eyes twitch. "It wasn't my fault. That sneaky, over-curious brat came over to get some information regarding my university… then when I wasn't looking, the jerk went into my room and found our sheet music and song compositions."

Takao was smiling again. "Well I guess that if he hasn't told anyone yet, then he's actually a trustworthy enough person."

"I should think so." said Hyūga indignantly. "He wants to be a police officer, doesn't he?"

There was a brief silence before all four of them burst out laughing, falling all over each other at the mental image of Aomine in an officer costume. None of them noticed a frizzy-haired woman taking a picture of their happy, carefree moment.

.

.

"To think… in a two weeks time, quite a few people will know our faces." said Kasamatsu in an awestruck voice as Takao dropped him off at his house.

"Kasamatsu-san." said Takao sincerely. "Thanks for asking me to join your group."

Kasamatsu ruffled his hair. "Don't be stupid. You have talent and an awesome voice… It would have been a waste _not_ to ask you."

Takao grinned and pulled Kasamatsu into an awkward hug. 'Awkward', because Kasamatsu was standing stock still, blushing a furious red. "Takao… you know what you said to me a while ago? About Kise?"

Takao pushed himself away from Kasamatsu and raised his hands defensively. 'Now about that… You should just forget it, Kasamatsu-san. I was just rambling and…"

"No." Kasamatsu said suddenly. "No I think it'd be nice if someone other than Aomine knows about this too."

Takao blanched. "Aomine?"

"Yes… ah, you see..." said Kasamatsu, fiddling with the straps of his guitar case. "The day he practically barged into my room, he found magazine cut outs of… _of Kise_… which I had in my closet." he huffed. "What kind of a person looks into someone's closet without permission?"

Takao raised an eyebrow. "What kind of person puts mag cutouts of— I mean, so he found out?" he asked.

"Yes, obviously. He promised that he'd keep his lips zipped, and said that I had the permission to beat him up if he ever revealed anything."

Takao bit his lips to stop the smirk from forming on his face. "Well… I won't tell anyone either, Kasamatsu-san." he said, getting on his bike. "But you have to admit that it's quite hilarious… that you're all _hot_ and _heated_ for Kise!" he said in a phony, girly voice and chucking, he pushed down on the accelerator and sped away, ignoring Kasamatsu's curses and indignant shouts after him.

.

.

That morning, Kise had received a message from Midorima:

.

**From: Midorima-cchi**

**Received: 08:06 am**

_Zunon Boy._

_._

Kise had no idea what it meant, and he had asked Midorima to explain, but the green-haired boy hadn't replied. As Kise walked towards the stadium where the Interhigh Preliminaries were taking place, he caught sight of two people he recognized.

Aomine and Kagami were standing relatively close to each other, but not because they were fighting. Both of them were boring their eyes into a magazine.

Kise waggled his index finger. "I know that Aomine-cchi's a pervert… But I would've thought that you'd enjoy a good Interhigh match over ogling at Horikita Mai-chan's boobs Kagami-cchi!"

But Kagami didn't even look up as he gaped at the page they were both staring at, looking rather pale. "I think that I'll be traumatized for life! That's Hyūga-senpai… wearing, w-wearing…"

Aomine was rubbing his forehead. "Not just your ex-captain, Bakagami! Yukio and Takao are also on that poster. And how did they manage to get Sakurai into this shit?"

Kise felt an irritated twitch when Aomine called Kasamatsu 'Yukio". But his curiosity got the better of him as he reached out and pulled the magazine towards him. It was a _Zunon Boy_, a special monthly edition. On the cover, in front of a starry, futuristic landscape were four figures standing in rather alluring positions. The words _Icy Inferno_ were written in the form of icicles burning in blue flames on the bottom of the page, the two 'I's jutting out like spikes. On the right-hand corner of the page, inside a dazzling full moon were the cursive words _1__st__ Album: __Ivory Seduction_.

The moment Kise's eyes found Kasamatsu, he stopped breathing. The man looked like he was waiting to be worshipped… _thoroughly_. He had an uncaring expression on his face, but his stormy grey eyes were playful as they stared at the camera. Kise gulped, his throat suddenly felt very dry. Kasamatsu's spiky hair was artistically ruffled and his buttonless shirt was open, revealing tanned body and arms, his pants riding low on his hips. Kise felt a jolt in his gut when he saw the way Takao Kazunari's right arm was wrapped around Kasamatsu's neck, his forehead almost touching the side of Kasamatsu's head.

"Kise? You okay?" called Aomine's voice. And suddenly Kise realized with a flare of anger that the whole of Japan was seeing Kasamatsu like this: open and completely revealed in front of everyone's eyes.

Kagami was still shaking his head as he wrenched a magazine out of a passing girl's grip. Ignoring her shout of indignation, he ruffled through the pages. "I can't believe they have seven pages dedicated to their band." he said, and Kise saw that the inside had more pictures of them, in other positions, along with solo shots and quotes from each of them.

"Hey, look at that." said Aomine, pointing at some fine print at the bottom of one of the pages, beside which was the picture of a woman with frizzy hair. Across from it was a picture of Kasamatsu, Takao, Hyūga and Sakurai, all beside themselves with laughter, wiping tears and falling on top of each other. "This critique from _Chic_ magazine says: _True to their words, the boys are _Hot_ and _Cool_ both on and off-screen. I predict that they will go a long way. _Son of a bitch, they actually managed to get this in the bag!"

Both Kise and Kagami's eyes flicked towards Aomine, Kagami looking mildly surprised and Kise's nostrils flaring in annoyance.

"Aomine-cchi." said Kise in a low voice. "Are you telling me that… you knew about this?!"

Aomine shrugged. "Well since it's all out, there no point in hiding… I found out that they were planning to make a band when I went over to Yukio's place last time. I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone about… anything." he said, giving Kise a brief glance. "But I had no idea that they would actually pull this off… or that they had pulled Sakurai into all this."

Kise felt himself scowl. "Since when have you been going to Kasamatsu-senpai's place?" he asked.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at him. "It's been a year now." he replied bluntly.

"Alright… that's it!" said Kise, feeling thoroughly put-out as he lowered the magazine.

"Don't worry Kise." said Aomine, putting an arm around his shoulder. "You'll still be Japan's number one poster boy! You're the face of _Zunon Boy_… You just have to get your mind off all this. Let's talk about something else… oh yeah, I got your text by the way! can you give Yukio my—"

"Give it to him yourself!" said Kise, throwing Aomine's arm off him. "Since you two are such good friends and all that!

"I can't." replied Aomine. "I don't have transport and today's the last date to hand in the forms." Aomine gave a low chuckle. "Senpai's gonna kill me… he tried very hard to get me admission forms so late into the year."

Kise grit his teeth. "Come with me."

"Why?"

"Just shut up and follow me, Aomine-cchi!"

.

.

Kasamatsu yelped as he felt someone touch his butt for the third time that day. The first day after their photo's were in the magazine, noting happened. Kasamatsu had thought that he had gotten a few stares from a couple classmates, but perhaps that was wishfull thinking. His teammates had seen the pictures and said that they loved them but that had been all. Then on the second day, a girl had screamed like an insane person after catching sight of him and there had been several gasps while he had been walking inside the university campus.

But today, the third day after Icy Inferno's images had been published in _Zunon Boy_, Kasamatsu found it impossible to get through the gates of his university into the campus. The guards had all been squashed by the mountain of fans who had suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking the entry. How was it that they had fans already? Their music video was coming out this weekend and their album was set to come out the next week! Nobody had even seen what they were capable of yet!

Takao, who had dropped him off that morning, was literally being harassed by girls.

"Takao-kun! What brand is your motorbike?"

"It's a Ducati." Takao replied dumbly as a tried to get a girl's hand out of his hair.

"Eeeh? But Takao-kun, I thought that Hurley- no Harley-Davidsons were the best! Why don't you buy a better bike?"

"Or a nice car?"

"Yeah, a convertible! Don't you agree, Kasamatsu-kun?"

Takao chuckled. "Come on, pretties! Ducati's aren't that bad… But if you want to know the truth, I treat my motorbike like I would treat my girl. You see, I'm a keeper… I would never replace my girl!" he said in a husky voice as all the girls watched him, their eyes large.

Kasamatsu grinned behind his hand. Then Takao's finger was suddenly on Kasamatsu's cheek as he traced it slowly.

"Besides, if I let go of my bike, then I wouldn't have an excuse to bring Kasamatsu-senpai here every morning!" he pouted jokingly.

The girls began to laugh and gush as Kasamatsu turned pink.

"You don't need a bike to pick up a guy, Takao-cchi." said a voice.

A shiny, red sports car pulled up beside them.

The girls all 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the expensive-looking ride, then began to scream when they realized who had gotten out of the car.

Kasamatsu couldn't tell what Kise was thinking as he approached them since his eyes were hidden behind stylish shades. Takao gave Kasamatsu a lewd wink before turning to smirk at the blonde.

"That's true, Kise-kun. But in a car, you don't get to feel the person you like pressing up _close_ behind you!" he said, putting his arms around Kasamatsu's neck.

The girls in the crowd squealed and laughed.

Kasamatsu thought he saw something dark flicker on Kise's face before his blinding smile was back. "What about Midorima-cchi? Don't you have to drop him off too?"

Takao waved his hand imperturbably. "I have plenty of time… Kasamatsu-senpai's house and the university are both in the way between my place and Shin-chan's. So it's no big deal!"

One of the girls surrounding them spoke up. "I get it! This is a fight over whose best friend Kasamatsu-kun really is!"

"Oh my! I'm siding with you Takao-kun!"

"No… Kise-kun forever!"

"Kasamatsu-kun why don't you choose!" said a voice, making everyone's attention turn towards him.

Takao looked like he was seriously fighting to hold in an amused chortle and Kise was staring at him as though he really expected an answer from Kasamatsu.

"Well, I…" Kasamatsu was about to panic when he noticed another figure get out of Kise's car's passenger seat. "Aomine!"

"Huh? What did he say?"

"Who's Aomine?"

"You idiot! Look there, that's Aomine Daiki—"

"Tōō Academy's ace in basketball!"

"He's so hot!"

Aomine was watching with his brows raised as Kasamatsu fought through the crowd to reach him.

Kasamatsu stopped in front of Aomine with his sternest look and reached out, his palm upwards. Aomine gave him a one-sided tilt of the lips and placed his hand in Kasamatsu's. Everyone around them started laughing.

"Baka, Ahomine!" Kasmatsu said, slapping his hand away. "Give me the forms now so I can hand them in."

Aomine yawned and stretched lazily. "I'll do that myself now that I'm here. Hey, how come you didn't tell me that Sakurai was part of your group?" he asked, rubbing an eye as he watch the growing line of fans. "I have to say though, quite a large crowd you gathered up here, Yukio."

Kasamatsu felt a vein twitch in his forehead. "What did you call me brat-"

"Fine... Yukio-senpai." Kasamatsu leaned backwards when Aomine started to bring his face closer to his, but then stopped when he realized that Aomine wanted to whisper something into his ear. "I see a lot of guys in the crowd." he said mischievously.

"Stop teasing me!"said Kasamatsu, punching Aomine's arm when he felt his ears heat up at the stares they were receiving. He lowered his voice. "Especially now that he's here— Hey, Aomine…" Kasamatsu said suddenly, in a threatening voice as he grabbed hold of Aomine's tanktop and pulled the taller boy closer to him. "You haven't told _anyone _about_ that_… have you?"

Aomine's eyes widened, and he glanced briefly towards where Kise was standing. "Are you dumb? Of course I haven't said anything! Now let go of me before I kick you."

"Kick _me_?"

"Yeah, I'm giving you one warning."

Kasamatsu released Aomine, but frowned. "Don't go around talking like that, brat. You kick me and you better wish that you're dead."

Aomine looked like he was about to come up with a retort but Takao suddenly slid in between them. "Right, enough with this trouble in paradise!" he exclaimed. "Now our main problem is that you, Kasamatsu-san, have to go to the location I gave you and re-shoot a couple of scenes for our music video. But I can't drop you… or I could, but then I'd have to call Shin-chan and tell—"

"It's fine, Takao-cchi." said Kise, who had finally managed to untangle himself from his gaggle of fans. "Go get Midorima-cchi. I don't have any classes today to I'll drop Kasamatsu-senpai wherever he needs to be."

Takao gave him a grateful smile, and turned towards Kasamatsu with an impishly suggestive look on his face back at Kise. Kasamatsu sent him a warning glare, which didn't seem to have any effect. "See you later, Kasamatsu-san!" he said, and then landed a loud, wet smooch on Kasamatsu's cheek before scampering away towards his bike, with a wave to the fans who screeched and cheered.

Kasamatsu blanched, but before he could take a step towards Takao, the door to the passenger seat was opened and Aomine's voice sounded in his ear. "Better get in, senpai. Before you get late." the tanned boy said, giving a meaningful glance at Kise, who was already behind the steering wheel.

Kasamatsu hurriedly placed his guitar on the back seat of the car and got in beside Kise, before looking at Aomine who was standing watching the girls with a green folder in his hand. "Don't get sidetracked, Aomine!" Kasamatsu warned. "And make sure that you've—"

"Yes, yes, I've signed the damn thing…" said Aomine, sounding annoyed. "You've told me a billion times so stop worrying… We'll fucking play together next year."

Kasamatsu looked away and smiled slightly. "Right."

Kise shifted the gear into position and zoomed the car away from the university gates, before hitting the road with a screech of burning rubber.

"So, senpai." he said, his voice like shards of glass as the needle on the speedometer gave volatile jerks. "Where to?"

.

.

Several times in his life, Kasamatsu had given a score of awkwardness from 1 to 10 to different scenarios in his life.

Asking out a girl had been a 5.

Kise changing in front of him for the first time had been a 7.

Moriyama catching him crying after they lost Interhigh had been a 6.

Takao hugging him for the first time had been a 4.

Aomine finding his stash of magazine clippings had been an 8.5.

But this situation, where Kise and Kasamatsu sat in silence for… wow, had it only been 30 minutes? It was off the scales of awkwardness which Kasamatsu had made up.

"Senpai." said Kise quietly, making Kasamatsu jump. He sounded downhearted. "Why didn't you tell me about this band of yours, senpai?"

Kasamatsu looked at Kise's crestfallen expression, although his eyes were still hidden behind colored lenses, and felt a tug at his heart. "I'm sorry Kise. We didn't know if the band would work out and announcing it before anything was sure seemed a bit… supercilious."

"Oh." was all Kise said.

"I'm sor—"

"No, I totally get it…"

"I-"

"It's not like I'm going to be here next year anyway, so who cares right?"

Kasamatsu blinked. He had never heard Kise sound so harsh before. "Kise…"

"Damn it!" said Kise suddenly, striking the dashboard of his car. "I'm so stupid…"

Kasamatsu winced. Was lyin—avoiding the truth, really affecting Kise this much? "Kise, are you… are you alright?" Kasamatsu asked tentatively.

There was a pause of silence, before the car jerked forward as Kise pushed harder on the accelerator. "I'm fine, senpai." Kise finally said in a toneless voice. "I just realized that a missed a shortcut."

They had been driving on a straight green lane of road, boarded by trees on both sides for nearly ten minutes now.

"Kasamatsu-senpai." Kise spoke up suddenly. "What would you have to say if I told you that Midorima-cchi likes Takao-cchi?"

Kasamatsu frowned at the sudden change of subject, but he was curious at the implication of what Kise was saying. "Really?"

"Yeah. Is senpai… saddened by that?"

"Saddened? Why would I be saddened, you brat?" Kasamatsu asked, smiling internally at Takao's good luck. "That's wonderful if it's true… but, Takao seems to be under the impression that Midorima is 'into older girls' or something like that. Are you sure that you've got your details right?"

"No idea, senpai." said Kise with mock-bravado. "It's seems that I'm really _out of the loop_ these days, huh?"

Kasamatsu bit his lower lip and cursed.

But Kise ploughed on. "I mean, where have I been this past year?" he said, his voice becoming louder with every word. "I feel lost you know, senpai? You've obviously made quite a few new friends… you're a part of something big now! And look at me, I'm still a stupid teenager… playing basketball! Where was I, when you were going around making all these, new… brilliant relationships? Hah, I really need you guidance senpai, more than ever."

"Kise, I—"

Honk! "Heh, sorry senpai! Accidentally pressed on it!"

"Ki—"

"You know senpai… You were looking really cool on that cover! Not as cool as me of course, but quite close! And that name: Icy Inferno! What a masterstroke! It's such a meaningful name too. I mean, I read your quotes on how you 'separated you differences' and 'because close friends'… Truly, do you know how proud I am of you, senpai?"

"Kise!" Kasamatsu finally managed to interrupt him. "Look, I'm sorry alright? I should've told you about this! You're one of my closest friends— you _are_ my closest—"

"'One of the closest' is fine senpai… Aomine-cchi is obviously closer to you than I am!" said Kise, not even trying to hide the vehemence in his voice anymore. "I'm not stupid you know. When I so much as hug you, you're always pushing me away but today when Aomine and Takao were practically _flirting_ with you, you seemed pretty fine with it!"

Kasamatsu felt a shiver tremble through him when Kise uttered the names without their customary 'cchi's of respect.

"That's… that's a completely different subject matter." Kasamatsu protested. He couldn't very well tell Kise that the blonde's presence affected him more than anybody else's because Kasamatsu was half in love with the oblivious, poor boy who was feeling left out. "The reason I didn't want to tell anyone, was that if we turned out a failure—"

"I would never think you as a failure." said Kise in a lower voice, which made Kasamatsu realize that at some point, he had begun shouting as well. "And if you told Aomine-cchi—"

"He found out okay? Of course I didn't tell him on purpose. You think I'd voluntarily tell Aomine something I hadn't told you?

For the first time since he had started driving Kise turned around to look at Kasamatsu. "Shit! Fuck… Are you crying senpai?"

"What are you talking about, brat!" said Kasamatsu, wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Aren't you as well?"

A lone, thin trickle of wetness was slowly making its way down Kise's cheek, behind his shades. But he wiped it away hastily. "This?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly. "Nah, it's just sweat!"

"Kise… I-"

Kasamatsu was cut off when the car stopped abruptly. Kise was looking at a large truck parked on the side of the road where the trees parted slightly to show a beautiful waterfall pouring out of the cut of a mountain face. It was only partially visible from the road as the area was forest-like, but Kasamatsu saw his video crew already setting up material. "Get off." said Kise.

"But I! I want us to talk—"

"I'm not leaving yet." said Kise in a softer voice. "I'll park the car somewhere and come back. Besides, they're calling for you."

It was true. The video crew, having spotted the red car, was beckoning Kasamatsu and gesturing for him to hurry up.

"Right." said Kasamatsu. He touched Kise's forearm, which was tense from his vice-like grip on the gear, then opened the door and stepped out onto the green grass and towards the sound of rushing water.

.

.

Hyūga was already inside the small pool by the waterfall. He looked like parts of his body were made out of shining jade, jade which was very scantily covering very _specific_ parts of the body… Other than that, he was completely naked.

"No! I thought we already did this scene in the pool!" Kasamatsu squeaked. He couldn't… there was no way he was letting Kise see him like this!

"The pool video was too juvenile and immature." complained the girl in charge of Kasamatsu, who had already started tugging off his clothes. Another one was already beginning to dust waterproof makeup all over his body. "You two make the sexy but unreachable pair of the group! You have to look more… surreal. That can hardly be achieved by splashing around in a swimming pool like a toddler."

"That's rich coming from you! How much more could they want? We've already done a Victorian Era look, an Ancient Egyptian look and a Roman Empire look!"

"Yes, but in all those, you guys weren't naked!" the girl said, sounding frustrated at Kasamatsu's apparent stupidity.

"Well, we shouldn't be!" Kasamatsu insisted, as a woman put lip gloss and eyeliner on him. "Hyūga and I are the 'watch all you want, but don't touch me' types. Aren't Takao and Sakurai's scenes enough?"

The girl gave him a pitying look. "Are you really that stupid?" she asked. "We're selling this to all types of audiences, so you _all_ must be attractive and alluring to them! We don't know which type of guy a particular person may like... So shut up and let us work our magic on you! Fuku-kun, get here put on his makeup! This kid here, he will be your and Hyūga-kun's personal makeup assistant until... well, until the day you die. So get used to him seeing you naked!"

"This is stupid." Kasamatsu muttered as he looked away from his own crotch where a yellow-haired, male assistant was attaching a skintight… _something_, which looked like marble, to cover his… _dick_ for Pete's sake! He couldn't even look at his own dick!

The girl in charge simply grinned widely and winked. "You'll thanks me afterwards, Kasmatsu-kun. Once this MV becomes the most watched in the nation… or even in the world! You guys have the potential, I'll give you that. How about you just promise to let me stay as your costume designer once you become famous?"

Kasamatsu made a face at her, but soon things began to get serious.

"Alright!" said their director, who was a burly, strict-looking man. "The sooner we get this footage to the editing team the better, so let's get this right! Listen up, Hyūga-kun, Kasamatsu-kun! We're going to take three shoots for this scene. Once in bright light, where you two are to show dominance, since you're unreachable at this point. The next scene is in darker light, where you look like supernatural creatures almost... don't look at me like that Hyūga-kun, the makeup works wonders and editing crew will do the rest of the transformation. The final scene will be close up with alternating lights, and you two will have to change your moves along with it."

Hyūga nodded. "I'm assuming that the alternating lights are in rhythm with the beat of the music? The part before the last chorus?"

"Correct." said the director. "Now, we're starting soon, please get settled to the temperature of the water. It's a bit chilly, but it's not unbearable."

Hyūga gave Kasamatsu a frown of reluctance and went into the small pool. There were two large rocks on either side of the water's downfall. The location was perfect, how did their crew find such a perfect spot?

Then Kasamatsu froze. Kise was standing at the edge of the woods with their costume designer. He was busy chatting with the girl and he had finally taken off his shades. His eyes however, were fixed on Kasamatsu, as he tried to settle himself in top of the smooth rock as comfortably as he could. Kise's golden eyes looked slightly red around the edges.

But Kasamatsu's attention was soon driven away from the handsome boy and back towards their director, who was addressing them. "Don't mind the lights! Just keep doing your thing, and try to ignore the waterproof cameras which will be zooming up towards you from underwater… we're going to start with a trial run so check if everything's functioning."

Hyuga, sitting across the curtain for water, shouted over its rush. "We won't be able to lip-sing!" he yelled. "Spitting water from our mouth won't look too attractive on camera I think!"

"Then we'll have to express our words with our bodies!" Kasamatsu yelled back with a sly wink, as Hyūga pretended to puke over Kasamatsu's phrasing.

At that moment, the clang of the electric guitar sounded as their music began to play. Kasamatsu himself had played this part in the recording studio.

_"This… Ivory Seduction…"_ Hyūga's voice hissed.

The lights were suddenly very bright on them, making rainbows appear as water gushed down over their bodies. Then the lights dimmed, little by little, and took on a dark, a grey-brownish sort of color. With the storm-like lighting, Kasamatsu looked down to see that some glow-in-the-dark make, which they had obviously put on him and Hyūga, were lighting up, flashing whenever the grey light moved across them. Kasamatsu understood why. In the light, they looked like Greek Gods, but in the darkness, there looked like heathens, wild savages with scales and slash marks all over their bodies.

All there left to do now was follow the words of the song. When the director gave the action signal, Kasamatsu nodded once to Hyūga and moved, letting his body follow the music he had first written down almost four years ago.

_"Try to resolve my addiction, but I get sucked in by your seduction…" _Takao's voice was singing.

The water was now rushing all over Kasamatsu, as he jerked to the beat… Shaking his head to get the water out of it. Someone whistled. His eyes were fixed on the camera, too much engrossed in the song… and too scared to look at Kise.

_"This acid running through my veins, _

_when I see you with __someone else… _

_It burns!_

_ Like my desire for you, girl!"_ Kasamatsu's voice uttered playfully.

The light's changed, along with the flow of the song, which took a more volatile, erratic turn. Kasamatsu opened his eyes wide and gave the camera a dangerous smile, his scales rippling in the light.

_"These strange, strange thoughts, I have about you! But what? That's the trill! Of our chase…"_

And finally, Kasamatsu let his eyes roam over to Kise… because who was he kidding! This song had obviously been written with him in mind. Who best to inspire him in this situation, other than his muse in the flesh?

... and who incidentally was staring at him with eyes like the setting sun.

So Kasamatsu gulped and shut his eyes in abandon, giving his body over to the music.

.

.

The crew had packed up in the blink of an eye and left the moment the videos were deemed to be 'good enough'. By then, it was already 3 o'clock, and Kasamatsu was incredibly tired. Hyūga had muttered something about 'wasting a whole day swimming around half-naked!", before leaving in his car. Kasamatsu however, was floating lazily in the pool, his makeup removed and only in his boxers. He felt the foam from the waterfall gather at his feet, and heard the rustle of leaves as Kise walked over in his bare feet and sat down at the edge of the pool.

"You wanted to talk, senpai?"

Kasamatsu straightened up in the deepest part of the pool, where the water was waist-high. "You say something." he told Kise.

The blond was staring at his feet, padding his toes into the grass. "My feet feel itchy." he mumbled, putting his legs into the water, trousers and all, uncaring that they were getting wet.

"What're you—"

"I have spare clothes in the car." Kise said, then sighed heavily. "I can't believe that I made you cry earlier senpai…" his voice was remorseful.

Kasamatsu waded across to Kise, and placed a wet hand on his chin, tilting it up. "Listen Kise." He said seriously. "Don't feel bad about it… Really. I know that you're angry, don't try to deny it! I know it's my fault." Kise's eyes were just like puddles of gold as they flickered over Kasamatsu's face. "But your anger, and the fact that you got hurt because of what I did, it showed me that you actually care… and I'm really happy about that."

Kise gave a small smile and pulled Kasamatsu's hand away from his chin, and played with the water-shriveled fingers. "Jeez, I feel like a ship-wrecked sailor, senpai… who's being rescued by a pretty mermaid."

Kasamatsu felt himself turn red and slapped Kise's arm with his free hand. "Baka! What kind of an analogy is that?"

But Kise didn't reply to that. "I'm going to Yokohama next year."

"Ah." said Kasamatsu. He had guessed as much already after what Takao had told him. But just having Kise confirm it was… _difficult_ to say the least.

"Kasamatsu-senpai?" Kise asked, his eyes desperate. "We're gonna keep in contact right? I mean, even you become really famous you won't forget me—"

Kasamatsu often realized how young Kise was when the boy made comments like that. During these moments, Kasamatsu swallowed up his indecent desire for the boy in front of his, and let put his old self, when person he used to be when he was Kaijō's captain.

"Kise, stop babbling." he said, trying to calm the boy down. "I know for a fact that you have... like a 25 year long contract with _Zunon Boy. S_o shut the hell up."

"Senpai." Kise breathed, grabbling hold of Kasamatsu's face. "I want us to stay like this forever, is that okay?"

Kasamatsu tried to control the rapid beating of his heart and responded some form of affirmative.

"Senpai..."

Then, there was a loud splash and both of them were suddenly underwater. Kasamatsu's eyes were wide open in the crystal clear liquid and Kise's were lidded… and Kasamatsu didn't even think of breathing because at that moment, Kise's lips were attached to his.

The moment they broke through the water's surface Kasamatsu gasped in a quick breath, but that was all he managed because Kise grabbed hold of him again and shoved their mouths together desperately, pushing himself against Kasamatsu until the latter felt his body slam against the rock his had been sitting on a few minutes prior. Kise licked Kasamatsu's lower lip and broke away from the kiss, watching Kasamatsu who was breathing heavily,finally catching his breath.

Without waiting another moment, Kise's mouth was hungrily set on Kasamatsu's neck, sucking, biting, bruising. "Senpai…" he said, a harsh nip with every word he uttered. "…You have no idea, do you… How much you wound me up?"

Kasamatsu blushed a vivid scarlet. Kise's lips were tracing his jaw now, his tongue flitting out to lick drops of water from his wet face.

"Soft… so cute…" the blonde muttered, as he repositioned himself directly under the waterfall, his clothes soaking through all the way. His body was now completely pressed up against Kasamatsu's who using the rock behind him to keep himself upright. His knees had given away ages ago.

Kise's tanned chest was visible through his now translucent white shirt, and Kasamatsu couldn't find anything to reply to the blonde, too surprised to form coherent words. Kise's aureate, jewel-like gaze was piercing right through his body and he leaned forward, thrusting his tongue into Kasamatsu's mouth. Kasamatsu soon realized that earlier inability to form words had been nothing compared to the complete hazing of his thoughts right then. Kise's tongue was working wonders inside his mouth, and he moaned into the kiss, feeling Kise press his hips into his crotch. Suddenly however, Kasamatsi realized that his vision was getting blurry... and not from the rushing water. Probably due to the fact that there was no breath left in his lungs...

Then, the world around him turned black.

.

.

When Kasamatsu regained consciousness, he was in a warm bed. He jumped up startled when he realized that he was only in a dressing gown, there was an IV needle stuck on the back of his hand, a pack of clear liquid dripping steadily into his system.

"Ah" the voice of his university nurse called. "Nice to have you back with us, Kasamatsu-kun!"

She walked up to Kasamatsu and placed a hand on his forehead, checking for his temperature, then she placed two fingers on his wrist, and checked the clock for a while.

"Everything seems to be fine for now…" she said gently. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone hit me across the head with a baseball bat." Kasamatsu placed his throbbing head in his hands. "Urgh… What happened, sensei?"

The nurse gave a quiet laugh. "I don't know. That nice blonde boy brought you up here, looking terribly worried. He only just left half an hour ago… you should call him. His name was, Kise-kun I think."

Kasamatsu blinked once, then twice. "K-Kise, he brought be here?"

"He carried you here actually." the nurse tittered, bringing out a small flashlight and checking Kasamatsu's pupil dilatation. "Such a polite boy! He even looked away when I took your wet underwear off!"

"Sensei!" objected Kasamatsu. "… wait a minute, you said that he left—sensei, how long have I been unconscious?"

"It's 8:45 now! I was about to head to my dormitories, but you may stay here as long as you wish. You know where my keys are after all!"

Kasamatsu scowled at her. The nurse knew him quite well, especially after his kept getting hurt by Reo's offensive basketball plays daily these days…

"Kise-kun told me that you he found you floating in the river, you probably fainted in the heat of the sun!" the nurse reproached. "How long has it been since you have eaten anything?"

Kasamatsu shook his head. _Ah… so it hadn't been real! Of course it hadn't… How could something so fantastic ever be real?! I was just delusional. Kise would never do that... he would never push me up against a rock and- and..._

Kasamatsu gave himself an imaginary slap.

"You're right, sensei…" Kasamatsu said with a fake smile on his face. "I should go get something to eat. I feel hungry."

The nurse gave him a smug look and proceeded to pull the IV needle out of his hand. As Kasamatsu changed into his clothes which had dried out by now, he felt disgusted at himself for harboring these… impure feelings for Kise, for fantasizing about someone who held him in such high regard as his senpai! Kasamatsu steeled himself, vowing to whichever gods were listening that he would never, _ever_, think like that about like that Kise again.

Kasamatsu then proceeded to check his reflection in the mirror and to fix his rumpled hair…

Darn it… he must have been unconscious for a while before Kise found him. His neck and collarbones were covered with a dozen, large insect bites…

Kasamatsu sighed, hoping that he wouldn't have an allergic reaction to them or anything.

.

.

* * *

**AN/: PLEASE suggest pairings beacause in the KNB universe, I totally think that your can find feelings between any two characters...**

**READ AND REVIEW!**

******PLEASEpoint out any annoying grammatical mistakes!**


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